Now there was a time when man was perfect. The world was not always as it is now. Man was made in the image of God. Man was made righteous. Man was made holy. He was made by God, for God. He spoke to God. He walked with God. He communed with God. He enjoyed God. He lived with God. He was upright. There was that in him that could respond to God. And his life was one of perfect bliss. (Lloyd-Jones, 16)
Genesis, the first book of the Bible, explains how we fell from our God-given paradise, and how God stayed with us through it all. Genesis is a story, the story of God’s relationship with humanity. Four major events in Genesis reveal God’s thoughts and actions. These are the Fall of Man, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, and the Call of Abraham. These events show that God must punish sin, but He will never give up on humanity. The Gospel in Genesis by Martyn Lloyd-Jones relates these events in Genesis to our modern lives. The God who revealed Himself in Genesis is the same God we worship today. Therefore, we must examine the interactions between God and humanity in Genesis to know how to interact with God today. As described in the events of Genesis, the failures of humanity illuminate the contrast of God’s wrath and mercy.
In the Fall of Man, Adam and Eve reject God, but they cannot escape Him. “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” (NASB, Gen. 3.6) The serpent tempted the woman. She was overcome by her pride; she wanted to be like God, so she ate the forbidden fruit. Adam failed to be a leader. Instead of protecting Eve, he followed her into sin. Because God is just, “He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life” (NASB, Gen. 3.24). God’s wrath was illustrated by His curse and His punishment of Adam and Eve. His mercy was illustrated by His promise and His clothing of Adam and Eve. They thought they could be like God; instead they were separated from Him.“We are not independent creatures in this world. We do not own it, and we cannot order it and decide what happens in it” (Lloyd-Jones, 63). Because of pride, humans try to ignore God, but that is impossible. No matter how prideful any human becomes, God is always in control. Rebelling against God is not a good idea. Adam and Eve’s descendants did not learn from the mistakes of their ancestors, so sin multiplies and fills the world after God casts Adam and Eve out of the Garden.
The Flood was the outpouring of God’s just wrath, but His salvation of Noah demonstrates God’s steadfast mercy. In the Flood, God destroyed the earth with water so that “all flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind” (NASB, Gen. 6.21). God judged humanity for their sin and rebellion. It was a massive calamity, and it was our fault. God unleashed His holy wrath, because “God and sin are eternal incompatibilities” (Lloyd-Jones, 119). God is holy. Sin cannot come into His presence. He loves humanity, so He gave them decades to repent while Noah built the Ark, but they continued to reject Him. “As that ark saved Noah from the waters of the Flood, even so belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and being in Him will save us from the wrath to come at the final day of judgment of the whole world” (Lloyd-Jones, 126). God always warns and always provides a way out. He is holy and just and powerful in wrath, but He also has mercy and love. He destroyed humanity but saved Noah. After the Flood, Noah’s sons formed families and multiplied, but their prosperity replaced their fear of God.
Instead of learning their lesson, humanity once again rejected God by building the Tower of Babel, so God brought another catastrophe upon them. God told people to scatter and fill the earth but they disobeyed Him. “Civilization really means people getting together to organize life in this world apart from God” (Lloyd-Jones, 134). They built a city to stay together, and a tower to reach to heaven to make a name for themselves. They were filled with pride, but God shattered their civilization. “Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth” (NASB, Gen. 11.9). When people disobey God, there are consequences. God will not allow blatant rebellion to last forever. At some point, His wrath will fall on sinful men. “If you plan your life without God at the center, it will come to nothing, nothing at all” (Lloyd-Jones, 141). We can do nothing without God. We need Him. Often, we forget that God is in control of everything. He is sovereign over everything, so we must worship Him in everything we do. Although God poured out His wrath on humanity at the Fall, the Flood, and the Tower of Babel, in His mercy He still has a plan to redeem us.
God called Abram out of sinful society to make a new people through whom God will bless all people. “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing;” (NASB, Gen. 12.1-2). God called Abram. God initiated this relationship, because He had a plan for Abram. He told Abram that He will make him a great nation, bless him, and make him a blessing to the world. Later, God changes Abram’s name to Abraham, signifying that he will be the father of many people. “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations will be blessed in you.’” (NASB, Gal. 3.8). The Scripture is the Word of God, Jesus Christ. As part of the Trinity, Jesus knows the Father’s plan to save humanity. Abraham is a key part of this plan. “Notice what God offers: it is the very thing that the people had been trying to get for themselves. God offers to make Abraham’s name great” (Lloyd-Jones, 153). People rebel against God. In their pride, they try to make themselves great. If, like Abraham, we have faith in God, He will bless us. When we try to make ourselves great, all our efforts will be in vain. God offers eternal life and glory. We cannot achieve that on our own. In God’s justice, He must pour out his wrath on sinful humanity, but if, like Abraham, we have faith in God, He will mercifully bless us.
Although God must punish humans, the events of Genesis prove that He will never forsake humanity. These events directly apply to our lives today. The God who saved Noah and blessed Abraham is the same God who we worship today. We need to explore these Biblical events from God’s perspective to understand what He expects of us. God made us, but we rebelled against Him. However, He knew we would sin, so He already had a plan. At the Fall of Man, God prophesied that the woman’s seed would crush the serpent’s head. This seed is Jesus. God rescued Noah from the Flood through the Ark. Jesus is our spiritual Ark. Through Babel and Abraham, God created a people for Himself to continue the line of the woman’s seed. Babel separated humanity into nations, and God chose Abraham to start His holy nation, the Israelites. Jesus was an Israelite, a son of Abraham. Christians are spiritually the children of Abraham through faith in Christ. All the events in Genesis point to Jesus, God in flesh, who came to earth to fulfill God’s plan to bring sinful humanity back into fellowship with our Creator.
WORKS CITED
New American Standard Bible (NASB). 1995 ed., Foundation Publications, Inc., 1997.
Lloyd-Jones, David Martyn. The Gospel in Genesis: From Fig Leaves to Faith. Crossway Books, 2009.
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